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“I’m fine. They weren’t that bad,” Cam assures him. “This smells great!”
It really does. Lasagna is a definite crowd pleaser around here. We dig in, and I hadn’t realized how hungry—for food—I was until the first bite hits my stomach. Silence reigns while we take the edge off.
“So,” Zac says when I fork up the last mouthful and look around for seconds. “Grandmother called me this afternoon.”
Asher and I pause. “She called me too,” he says slowly, putting his fork down. “Did she ask you a bunch of questions?”
Zac nods.
“She didn’t call me, but I saw her this morning. What was her mood like for you?” I ask. She seemed to be in a better frame of mind by the end of the meeting, but still not what I would have considered optimal. Sometimes it’s important to remind ourselves that she really does love us a lot.
“She was cheerful,” Zac replies immediately, and Asher agrees. Garrett freezes midway in serving Asher another piece of lasagna.
“Cheerful?” he repeats. “Are you sure?”
“It’s pretty hard to mistake it when Grandmother is cheerful,” Asher tells him dryly. “It doesn’t happen all that often.”
“Except around the kids,” Zac adds. “She’s usually cheerful with them.”
That’s true. She likes little kids. Which reminds me, I need to visit my brother. I promised to introduce him to Cam.
“But she was in a lousy mood this morning,” Garrett protests, dumping lasagna on Asher’s plate with no finesse. “Definitely didnotroll out the welcome mat for Cam. What could have happened to change that?”
“I liked her,” Cam says, holding out his plate for more. “And she did welcome me. She invited me for dinner on Sunday.” He looks around the table with a frown. “I don’t have to go if it will be weird, though.”
“I already told you it won’t,” I remind him. “She invited you, so unless you don’t want to come, you’re coming.”
“She invited you for family dinner?” Zac lets out a low whistle. “She must have liked you. That also explains why she was asking so many questions about you and if I thought you were nice.”
“Did she?” Cam grins. “She does like me! Maybe I should bring her a present on Sunday. Does she like puzzles?”
There’s a very good chance that she’d throw a metal puzzle through a window if she couldn’t work out how to solve it, but that’s not what he’s asking. “She does.”
“Great! What did you tell her, Zac? Did you say I was nice?”
Zac smiles indulgently at him. “I told her you’re adorable.”
CHAPTERTHIRTEEN
Cam
It’s sonice to wake up in a warm bed with my very own personal demon heater snuggled against me. Micah has his arm wrapped around me and my body tucked into his, as though he’s protecting me from the… cold? Blanket? Who knows. But it’s nice. I haven’t had this—someone to snuggle and wake up with—for a long time. Most people get bored when I start talking about work and only stick around for the actual fucking. Others stick around for a while but then get frustrated when they realize how much of my attention goes to puzzles and how little I want to go to parties. Unless they’re trivia parties. I’ve been to a few of those, and they’re so much fun, even if I don’t know the answers.
I wonder if the pub Micah mentioned, here in the village, does trivia parties.
Micah stirs behind me, nuzzling the back of my neck. “Good morning,” he rumbles. “What are you thinking about so loudly?”
“Was I talking?” How embarrassing. “Good morning. I hope I didn’t wake you.”
He gently bites my ear, and I shiver. “Not talking, but you weren’t relaxed anymore.”
And he noticed that in his sleep? Is that a demon superpower, or just a Micah thing? “I was wondering if the pub does trivia parties.”
“The pub here in the village? Sure. The second Friday of the month. Did you want to go? You should still be here then. We can make up a team—you, me, my cousins, and Garrett.”
How exciting! I sit up, and only when the covers fall to my waist do I realize how fucking cold it is. Yelping, I dive for the warmth of the blankets, accidentally elbowing Micah in the ribs as I do.
“Oof!” Even as he presses a hand to his side, he gathers me close with his other arm. “What’s wrong?”
